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Chicago Magazine

This Year’s Best New Buildings and Developments

– Best Adaptive Reuse: The Bush Temple.
In a city known for its contributions to architecture and design, 2017 was no exception. And, if the dozens of tower cranes still seen throughout the city’s skyline this winter are a sign of anything, there’s plenty more to come—including a number of high-rise projects from star architects.
But which of this year’s new buildings were the very best?

The formerly vacant and decaying building in the heart of the Gold Coast is now a property under Cedar Street Companies’ FLATS flag of trendy microapartments. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the ornate masonry and terracotta building is most famous for being the former headquarters of the Bush and Gerts Piano Company. Chicago’s HPA Architecture led the restoration of the building’s exterior and many original interior architectural features, earning praise and accolades from preservationists and attention from real estate media.